Note: any images from the original messages have been removed in this Blog.
Landcare Monitoring Information 2015 - 19 January 2016
To: Waimate North Community
Hi residents of Waimate North and surrounds,
We are in the process of completing the monitoring information for the 2015 year. Thanks to everyone who has sent in data over the year, this is so important to the Trust. It helps us to establish our priorities, how effective we are and is of great assistance in dealing with funders, especially the volunteer hours submitted.
If you have any pest control/kill information and hours spent on Landcare activity which you have not sent through to the Trust yet for 2015, could you please do so as soon as possible.
This can be done:
• Via our website using the easy monitoring form at
http://www.waimatenorthlandcare.org.nz/monitoring_return.php
• Printing of the monitoring form for returning to the trust at the same link above. If returning physical copies please return to Phillip Saunders at 494 Te Ahuahu Road, RD3 Kerikeri 0293
• If you are unable to access the website please phone me on 094059249 and I will arrange paper copies to come to you for completion.
Any queries please let me know and thanks again for all your support in maintaining this significant part of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Phillip Saunders
Trustee
Kiwi Aversion Training for Dogs. Saturday February 27th 2016 - 23 December 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hello there
The Waimate North Land Care Trust has set the above date for this training of dogs to be kiwi averse. Saturday 27th February 2016.
The Trainer Tom Donovan will be on site from 9AM.
If you want to get your dog trained or retrained to avoid kiwi please contact me, John Beachman beachmen@xtra.co.nz or 4059434
and we can sort out a time for you to bring your dog. The sessions are in a patch of road side forest towards the end of Waikuku Road. Takes about 10 minutes per dog.
We all value the kiwi in this district. This dog training is an important component of the community efforts to sustain kiwi on our properties.
This is a heads up. I'll send other reminders over the next few weeks.
Please pass this on to friends and neighbours.
Kind regards for Christmas
John Beachman
Trustee.
Waimate North Land Care Trust
FW: Kiwi Coast Christmas Newsletter - 23 December 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Greetings to Waimate North residents,
Please see below the latest newsletter from the Kiwi Coast initiative.
Note the article on the Waimate North Show and the warning about visitors with dogs over the holidays.
If the drought continues Kiwi are more likely to appear in your backyard looking for food and water. An escape ramp from swimming pools and ponds may prevent a kiwi (or hedgehog), which falls in while seeking water, from drowning.
Our website: www.waimatenorthlandare.org.nz has information about suitable supplementary food for hungry kiwi or you can call the Department of Conservation or the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre 09 4381457.
Christmas and New Year Greetings
Daryl Way
Chairperson
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
Ph. 4059981
Must See Documentary On Climate Change - 4 December 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Greetings to Waimate North residents,
When the newspapers first started writing about global warming and its potential effects there was a report from a botanist on the changes that may occur in our native forests. In that report was a prediction that Puriri trees may not be able to survive in Northland.
You may have noticed that some of the Puriri in Waimate North are looking unhealthy and some have died. I have been told this is also happening in the Russell state forest. The leaves turn a bronze colour and then die and drop off and then the branch dies- sometimes followed by the whole tree over a period of a year or two. Leaf samples from an infected tree were analysed by the Forest Research Institute and were found to contain a pair of fungi that usually only influence the health of trees when they are severely stressed.
The documentary mentioned below may be useful in providing up to date information about climate change
The Tindall Foundation has provided financial support for Waimate North Landcare Trust’s pest control activities (through the Kiwi Coast initiative) to help protect and enhance our natural environment.
Regards
Daryl Way
Ph.4059981
The Tindall Foundation is committed to supporting organisations and causes that care for our environment and promote biodiversity. A recent example of our interest in and concern for climate change, was the funding of the award winning film New Zealand/UK film.
Thin Ice: The Inside Story of Climate Science
As world leaders meet this week in Paris for United Nations Climate Change Conference, TV One is screening this thought-provoking, highly acclaimed film.
Tune in at 8am, Saturday 5 December on TV ONE (or later on demand)
Watch this unique exploration of the science behind global warming and an intimate portrait of a global community of researchers racing to understand our planet’s changing climate.
Director, Victoria University geologist Simon Lamb, went to the ends of the earth and under it. The result is an insider’s view of the astonishing range of human activity and scientific work needed to understand the world’s changing climate.
We encourage you to help promote the screening of Thin Ice by sharing the advertisement above with your networks. The wider the viewing audience the better!
Stephen Tindall
Founder, The Tindall Foundation
Kiwi and Stoat Death Remain A Whodunnit - 18 November 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Below is a link to an article in the Northern Advocate about a kiwi and stoat death in Te Ahuahu Road.
The article in interesting but also shows how important the Trust’s trapping programme is an attempt to prevent this sort of attack. Comparing the size of the stoat to the chick you can see why kiwi chicks are vulnerable to predation.
As the article says it is a bit of a whodunit.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11546470
Northland Forest Collapse - 9 November 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Waimate North Landcare Trust has been working with our community for 16 years to halt the decline in our local forests.
The job is not finished but we can slow or halt the decline and improve the health of the rare and threatened Waimate North forests of puriri, kohekohe and taraire.
We need you to support our Trust, Forest and Bird and other organisations working in the Northland region.
Below are links to a video on Northlands Forest and also an interview on Radio NZ clearly explaining that the forests in Northland are collapsing. Please watch and listen to these items.
Forest and Bird Video on You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=857OkIw0e0s
Radio New Zealand Sunday Morning Program
Forest and Bird's Northland advocate Dean Baigent-Mercer this week released drone-footage shot above Northland's Whangaroa, Russell and Otangaroa forests and tells the forest are on the point of collapse.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201776899/northland's-forest-collapse
Phillip Saunders
Trustee
Waimate North Landcare - Kauri Snail Monitoring - 2 November 2015
To: Waimate North Community
We are visiting the monitoring plots on this Tuesday 11th November in the morning to do the annual count of Kauri Snail. Starting at 9:00am.
Come join us for a very pleasant morning in the forest interspersed with periods of being on your knees sorting through the leaf litter for snails.
Please telephone Phillip Saunders on 09 405 9249 or email trust@waimatenorthlandcare.org.nz
Keeping Waimate North Attractive - 29 September 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hi,
Sometimes it is difficult to get our heads around how different the trees in Waimate North are because of pest control.
This video from Forest and Bird visits a forest in Northland and shows what happens if we don’t control possums.
It made me really think about how we take our work in the area for granted when the consequences of not doing effective pest control is dramatic. If we wish to understand about keeping Waimate North an attractive area this video is worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ3ypl-abjM
Phillip
Trustee
Keeping Dogs and Kiwi Safe - 21 September 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hi,
Residents in Waimate North and surrounds should be aware of the stance being taken by FNDC on dog control. This is following eight kiwi being killed in Kerikeri by dogs.
Let’s keep our dogs and our kiwi safe.
Please follow this link for the report
http://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2015/dogs-euthanised-owners-fined-after-kiwi-deaths-investigation/
Having your dog attend kiwi aversion training is a practical action you can take and it is provided either free or for a small koha.
If you wish to find out about kiwi aversion courses for dogs being run in Northland please contact the Department of Conservation or follow this link to Kiwis for Kiwi which has an up to date list of dates.
kiwi-avoidance-training-days/Kiwis for Kiwi - Avoidance training for dogs
Caring for Kiwi' Workshop September 27 - 21 September 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hupara Landcare
Caring for Kiwi Workshop
Come along to find out what makes kiwi so unique, why they are so vulnerable to predators and what you can do to help them thrive at Hupara.
Sunday 27th September 2015, 1–4pm, Geoff and Anna Guy’s, Smeath Road, Hupara.
First gate on left with paddock entrance. Keep an eye out for the Kiwi Coast and NZ Landcare Trust flags!
Afternoon tea provided.
RSVP to Ngaire Tyson at email ngaire.tyson@landcare.org.nz by Wednesday 23rd September.
Waitangi River Catchment Survey - 10 September 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Please find attached an invitation to contribute toward efforts aimed at improving the quality of the water flowing in our local rivers and in the Bay of Islands
Daryl Way
Chairperson
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc
RD 2
Kaikohe 0472
09 4059981 or 021 1327865
Waimate North Landcare Trust - Rat Control Timing - 7 July 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hi Everyone,
This is a good time of year to put out rat bait and ensure your traps are baited.
Rats are a health and a safety concern, in addition to killing birds on your property and of course eating your avocados!
In winter the rat population is lowered, also the amount of food available for them is reduced.
This means there are less rodents to eliminate and because of the lack of competing food they are more likely to eat bait or go to a trap.
Success at this time will have an effect in Spring with less population to start breeding and another bait application at that time will help control rats on your property.
Rats will always arrive from outside of your own property so it is an on-going project, however if as many people in the community as possible work on reducing the population it helps everyone else.
Be sure when using toxins to use bait stations so that other animals cannot get to the toxin.
Rat bait stations such as this one can be purchased from hardware and rural retailers.
Early Alert. Wetland planting 9:30AM Sunday 28th June. Waimate North Land Care Trust - 8 June 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hello All
This is to let you know that some work is needed at the Showgrounds Road wetland and the morning of the above date is the time to help us if you are willing.
Tasks proposed are as follows.
• Release previous years' trees from competing vegetation.
• Replacement planting of trees which have died.
• Enrichment planting of native trees to widen species range.
• Planting of divided flax along the wetland edge.
If we get a reasonable turn out we should get through the work by lunch time.
I'll send out a more detailed flyer closer to the date but please mark your calendars now if you are interested in participating.
Thanks
John Beachman, Trustee
no subject - 8 May 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Trees and plants for Sale
Thank you to all who attended the Landcare tree auction and provided great food, good company and support for community conservation work.
We sold most of the trees but we still have some to sell.
The proceeds of our auctions are used to buy materials for our pest control work.
Cabbage trees $7
Creeping coprosma- ground cover $4
Flaxes $3
Native Hibiscus $10
Lacebark $7
Liebertia-Native Iris $3
Mahoe $3
Makamaka $9
Manuka $5 in root trainers $3
Matipo $6
Meuhlenbeckia- ground cover $4
Nikau $7
Pigeonwood $3
Pohutakawa $7
Puriri $8
Rengarenga Lillies $3
Taraire $3
Titoki $8
Totara $5
Daryl Way
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
no subject - 2 May 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Re Recent Dog Attacks
Waimate North Landcare can provide DNA collection kits ( see photo attached)for collecting samples from animals which have been attacked. These can be used to confirm identification of dogs if they are captured or killed at a later date. These kits can also be used to collect DNA from kiwi which have been killed by dogs.
Human DNA can also be collected from pigeon feathers in the case of kereru poaching.
We can also provide a dog trap for use by members.
Daryl Way
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
Ph. 4059981
Kiwi aversion training Puketi Forest HQ Sunday 10 May - 28 March 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Please find attached details of another Kiwi Aversion Training session for dogs – forwarded to you on behalf of DOC
Training is usually free( check with Sara at DOC) and takes about 30 minutes .
Dogs that have already been trained should have a refresher yearly ( or six months after the first training session)
Training is not a perfect solution to the problem of dogs killing kiwi(which most dogs find irresistible-much more so than other birds) but does help protect this endangered species especially if dogs are not free to roam at night. A running kiwi is much more attractive than one sleeping during the day.
Our predator control efforts do seem to be successful in protecting kiwi to adulthood in this area but one dog can undo this work. The kiwi population around Mt Pokaka was halved by one wandering dog two years ago.
Regards
Daryl Way
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
Ph.4059981
From: Sara BarberKusanic [mailto:sbarberkusanic@doc.govt.nz]
Hi
Please find attached flyer for next kiwi aversion training at Puketi Forest HQ
To book please phone 09 407 0314 or 09 407 0300 or email and we will give you a timeslot
Thanks
Sara
Rare pateke ducks increasing on Kiwi Coast - Kiwi Coast Northland Project - 22 March 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Have you seen one in Waimate North?
See link below
There have been reports of Pateke in this area about 10 years ago. If you see one on a local pond and waterway please get a photo if possible and let the Landcare Trust know. The presence of these birds in this area would strengthen our case for continued funding for pest control.
Regards
Daryl
Daryl Way
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
Ph.4059981
http://www.kiwicoast.org.nz/rare-pateke-ducks-increasing-on-kiwi-coast/
Rodent time - 19 March 2015
To: Waimate North Community
The Rodents are coming!
At this time of year their numbers are highest and they start looking for a warm home for the winter.
The types of traps shown in the attached photos do not need baiting if you place them against the base of a wall as in the second photo – catch rats and mice or maybe a weasel as shown, or a stoat, as they walk through or over the treadle plate on the trap. Rat traps can be placed like this at the base of a compost bin. Tie the trap with string or wire if it’s outside to prevent cats or dogs taking the trap and catch away.
For your diary
• The annual Landcare tree and native plant auction will be held on Sunday 3rd May
• Kiwi call monitoring starts on May 7th- please contact Daryl Way -4059981 -if you are interested in taking part.
Daryl Way
Waimate North Landcare Trust Inc.
Roadside kiwi hatches chick! - 5 February 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Roadside kiwi hatches chick!
A kiwi called Dallas has successfully hatched another chick this season, despite continuing to nest at his favourite spot – right on the roadside verge at Whangarei Heads.
If you would like to read more follow this link http://www.kiwicoast.org.nz/roadside-kiwi-hatches-chick/
Kiwi Aversion Training for Dogs Sunday March the first - 5 February 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hi Waimate Google Group.
Peter Graham from Doc Whangarei will be available on the above date to train your dog to be kiwi averse. If you've brought your dog previously please bring it again for 'reminder' training.
Phone or email me (4059434) beachmen@xtra.co.nz to book in. (It takes about 10 minutes per dog). I need to know your dog's name, sex, age and whether it has had previous kiwi aversion training.
The training sessions will begin at 9AM. The site is towards the end of Waikuku road.
Please advise any of your friends with dogs of this opportunity. There is no charge for the service.
Cheers John Beachman
Trustee, Waimate North Land Care Trust
Waitangi River Kiwis Call For Protection - 1 February 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Hi
You might find this article in Northern Farming Lifestyle interesting, it is about Waimate North Landcare.
Waitangi River Kiwis Call For Protection - Pages 8 and 9
http://issuu.com/nsmm/docs/nfl_jan_2015
good article in New Yorker - 4 January 2015
To: Waimate North Community
Happy New Year
Below is a link to an article from The New Yorker magazine about pest control in New Zealand.
It’s quite long but you may have time for some interesting holiday reading and it gives an indication of how the rest of the world views us.
Daryl Way
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/22/big-kill